Girl Who Got Hash Oil Law Passed Might Not Be Allowed Treatment

Of all the dozens of state medical marijuana laws across the country, there are a few which are pretty problematic. One of the most hollow and bureaucracy cock-blocked of these laws is the law allowing CBD oil in Mississippi.

That’s because, actually, the law doesn’t allow for CBD oil treatment in anything but a clinical trial. And even for that to happen, the state will have to jump through several hoops before it can legally do so. And even after that, only five to ten children will actually get the clinical treatment. And even then, the afflicted young girl who the law is actually named after might not be among the very few chosen to participate in the trial.

Harper Grace was just two years old in 2014 when Mississippi passed the Harper Grace Law. Since then, her and her family have waited three years to receive a legal alternative to heavy medication in the treatment of her Dravet syndrome, a rare and severe form of epilepsy. Researchers at the University of Mississippi Medical Center have not yet elected participants for the study.

“At the end of the day, I know everyone can’t be put in the study. It would be very selfish of me to say we deserve it only because her name is on the bill and we did all the work,” Ashley Peszynski Durval, Harper’s mother, told The Clarion Ledger.

If Harper isn’t allowed to be treated with the extract in Mississippi, Durval said the family will have to relocate to another state where medical marijuana laws are more permissive, if they can afford to do so.

“I just want my sweet girl to have a chance,” she said. “I want Harper to to be in the trial before things get any worse for her…I believe she has a chance to live somewhat of a normal life. Dravet syndrome will never go away, but maybe with the help of (cannabis oil) she can have a chance to get off all the medications … Her body has been so polluted since she was 6 months old.”

Before the UMMC can even begin their teeny tiny clinical trial, it needs the approval of three separate federal agencies: the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Dr. Brad Ingram, director of the UMMC’s Pediatric Comprehensive Epilepsy Center said that the study would not receive its required permission before late spring or summer at the earliest.